Sustainable Communities Bill

The report to Parliament regarding the action plan is provided for. The right hon. Gentleman is raising a question about the report to Parliament on requests for transfer of functions. The answer to that question is yes, and there is the added benefit of parliamentary questions, of course. The right hon. Gentleman looks sceptical, but the embarrassment factor on any Government is a function of the strength of feeling at local level. The stronger the feeling at local level, the greater the embarrassment of the Secretary of State of the day in refusing such requests. There is no attempt in my proposals not to provide for accountability and reporting to Parliament, and I believe that I have covered the issue in my proposals on the reporting of the decision on functions. [Interruption.] The right hon. Gentleman is shaking his head. If he is not convinced, we perhaps need to debate this issue further, although I am concerned as to how we do that. The other place might want to look at the Bill and to make changes, and we would have to be very careful that such changes were desirable and that the Bill’s further progress was not thereby inhibited. So let us be clear this morning about what we are achieving. The processes covered by new clause 1 require the Secretary of State to invite local authorities to make proposals that they consider would contribute to promoting the sustainability of local communities. Such proposals could cover, among other things, policy change, changes to the law and changes to funding arrangements. They may also include a request for a transfer of functions from one person to another. If a local authority proposes to make such a request, it should of course consult, and under my proposals it must consult both the person whom the functions relate to and the person whom it considers the functions should be transferred to. Before making any proposal, a local authority must have regard to the matters specified in the schedule. The Secretary of State must issue the first invitation within a period of one year, beginning with the day on which the Bill, once enacted, is passed. That is the length of time that I believe would be required to put the structure into place.